Comparison of Joe Keller of All My Sons & Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman - Essay Example

Joe Keller of All My Sons and Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman A Comparison The American playwright, Arthur Miller, deeply influenced by the Depression and World War II that ensued, resolved to capitalize in his writing the sense of dissatisfaction and unrest that settled on the American people. The dramas that resulted, revealed to them an honest view of the direction which the nation followed. Arthur Miller, who was of Jewish parentage was born in 1915 in Manhattan, New York. Miller was enormously affected by his father’s desperation over business failures caused by the Depression. By 1928, the family had transferred to Brooklyn and after high school graduation, Miller had saved up enough money from odd jobs to enable him to enter college. In 1934, we find him enrolled in the University of Michigan, spending the next four years honing his talent for writing and accomplishing a number of successful plays. After graduation from college, he launched himself on a career as a free-lance writer. His first play, The Man Who Had All the Luck is the story of an unbelievably successful man who is not happy despite all that success. Unfortunately, the play was received unfavorably. He next published FOCUS and after two years had his first play, All My Sons on Broadway. For Miller, the play became an initial success which readily appealed to the American public who had just been through a war and the Great Depression. “Only two years after the success of All My Sons, Miller came out with his famous and well-respected work, Death of a Salesman. Dealing again with both desperation and paternal responsibility, Death of a Salesman focused on a failed businessman as he tries to remember and reconstruct his life. Eventually killing himself to leave his son insurance money, the salesman seems a tragic character out of Shakespeare or Dostoevsky. Winning both a Pulitzer Prize and a Drama Critics Circles Award, the play ran for more than seven hundred performances. Within a short while, it had been translated into over a dozen languages and made its author a millionaire.” (American Masters website) Most reviews on All My Sons appearing in many leading newspapers and magazines in the United States were favorable. This can be attributed to the play’s vivid depiction of the psychological aspects of America during and after World War II. The setting is realistic and it would not be possible to understand the problems existing between father and son (Joe and Chris Keller) without understanding first the background of the war. The moral issue presented by the play through the conflict existing between Joe and Chris and even Larry (another son) becomes apparent only with a background of the war. Although Joe and Chris are portrayed as victims of the war, we should not look at All My Sons merely as a social play reflecting the American society of the 1940’s in relation to the war. If we do, we would be missing an appropriate evaluation of the play itself. “All My Sons is Miller’s first Broadway hit and it is the precursor of his subsequent works on Broadway in terms of his own themes and dramatic techniques. It has encompassed such themes as father-son conflict, guilt of fathers, conflict between the social and the personal, a man’s personal integrity, survival and social responsibility, a moral crisis, individual and family pride, pursuit of the dream of success in the form of a traditional tragedy, as well as a family and a social play.” (Oikawa: 100). The relationship between the father and the son in the plays of Miller follows a similar pattern. Usually there are two brothers who are loved very much by the father. The love is reciprocal; but the older brother is an idealist and the younger one, a realist. When the son comes out to society to discover the father’s anti-social attitude and deeds and also his mistakes in his manner of thinking and living, he is so ashamed that he changes his attitude of respect for his father and even goes to the extent of denouncing him. The father-son conflict becomes effective as a dramatic technique in that it provides a balanced tension leading to a climax in the play. Moreover, it has the ability to attract attention of the audience to what goes onstage. In terms of content and form, Miller has used the father-son conflict to best advantage. Joe Keller is the main protagonist of All My Sons. A delineation of his character taken from the dialogue of the play runs thus: “When he reads, when he speaks, when he listens, it is with the terrible concentration of the uneducated man for whom there is still wonder in many commonly-known things, a man whose judgments must be dredged out of experience and a peasant-like common sense. Keller: I don’t know. I don’t need the news part anymore. Its more interesting in the want ads. Here’s another one. Wanted old dictionaries. High prices paid. Now, what’s a man going to do with an old dictionary? Frank: Why not? Probably a book collector. Keller: You mean he’ll make a living out of that? Frank: Sure, there’s lots of them. Keller: (shaking his head) All the kind of business goin’ on. In my day, either you were a lawyer, or a doctor, or you worked in a shop. Now…(scanning the page, sweeping it with his hand) you look at a page like this you realize how ignorant you are. (softly with wonder, as he scans the pages.) In All My Sons, an analysis of the dialogue that takes place between father (Joe) and son (Chris) reveals two different issues that contradict each other at a deeper level. Joe is realistic and practical in his thinking and represents the older generation. Chris, on the other hand, is the romantic type and full of idealism. Joe puts importance on his family over and above everything else and concentrates on maintaining paternal dignity at home and making sturdy his image as a father. Chris believes that the ideal way of life lies beyond the family and has more to do with solidarity with the wider outside world. We can trace this to Chris’ experience as a war veteran whereas Joe never left the country during the entire period during and after the war. A generation gap, therefore, exists between the two. Joe Keller is a rich man – the “rags to riches” type who has worked hard to attain his position as the successful owner of a factory. He has undergone a lot of hardships to become what he is presently – a self-made man. What he has undergone is not mentioned, but the reader/viewer can imagine clearly that he has been through the “school of hard knocks”, although all the schooling he received was a night school education – not enough to read more than the classified ads in the daily papers and in his surprise at the output of new books one after another that he has never before heard of. In a conversation with his wife, Kate about their son, Chris, he says: “I should put him out when he was ten like I was put out, and make him earn his keep. Then he’d know how a buck is made in the world.” (Miller: 120) His words indicate how he started out in his life at a very young age. It is easily understood that because of this, he lacked proper education. He also explains to Chris why he was averse to give up his factory which had built for a lifetime even though it put out faulty cylinders which he sold to the military during the war. At the end of the 19th century when Joe was born, the “frontier spirit” and the dream of success were tied up with each other. Then, it was easy for ordinary people like Joe to realize their dream of success. However, the disappearances of frontiers brought about by industrialization and the social system, made it difficult for people to win success on their own. It became such that only a few people could become rich since the appearance of a competitive society during the war. The social change produced both those who could follow it and those who could not. Joe is the representative of those who did become successful and Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman is representative of those who could not. Willy and Joe lived during the period after World War I. Willy is sixty years of age and Joe is a bit younger. Joe, being a realist and though influenced by the old values got along well in life; whereas Willy, obsessed with the old values or success dream, could not adjust to the changing times. The success dream is the embodiment of the American Dream and reveals the original spirit of the Americans. Both Joe and Willy adhered to that dream. Their adherence to the importance of success is closely tied to their perceptions of fatherhood. It is an attempt to portray themselves as the breadwinner in their respective families. What supports this idea of fatherhood is success. If, like Joe, he would own a factory, thus enabling the son to inherit it, this would redound a strengthened position as “pater familias”. That is the precise reason why Joe made an order to ship defective cylinders during the war. Joe was hopeful that this wrongdoing of his would go unnoticed. In the 1940’s, America entered the war full-blast. The production of arms was encouraged. All factories were faced with the problem of how much and how soon they could come up with the needs of the armed forces. The companies involved in the war munitions industry competed with one another without respite, including Joe’s company. “The decline of the father’s authority at home is a common phenomenon in modern society in general. The decline of Joe and Willy’s fatherhood can be explained by two factors. One is social change happening everywhere and the other is the indigenous American concept of fatherhood. Alexander Mitschellech suggests the causes of social change. Factors such as division of work in connection with mass production through machinery and control of diversified working masses, separation between home and work, change from an independent producer to a waged worker as a consumer, constantly expanded the downfall of fatherhood both inside and outside of the home.” (Mitschelich, 1969 as mentioned in Oikawa, 2002). The image of a father seen working by the sweat of his brow disappeared from the home. Most fathers worked away from home and the children no longer were familiar with the hardships of their father. The father image they now know was an “invisible father”. This resulted in a more difficult father-son relationship. Another reason for the decline of fatherhood can be traced to history. America has a history of independence form the oppression of Great Britain. This state of affairs gave rise to the tradition of defying authoritarianism. America is also a nation of immigrants and the traditional paternalism they brought with them from the old country was doomed to collapse. Fathers gradually lost their authority as the center of the family. “But whether the individual hindered or helped his children to become a different sort of person from what he was, was a question of minor importance; the making of an American demanded that the father should be rejected both as a model and as a source of authority. Father never knew best. And once the mutation was established, it was maintained no matter how many generations separate an American from his immigrant ancestors, he rejects his father as authority and exemplar, and expects his sons to reject him.” (Gorer:9) The more an immigrant father succeeded in rearing his children as all-American, the less they found anything worthwhile aside from things American. The un-American character of the father became shameful to them and he became the object of their criticism. “The decline of authority as a father at home is connected with the American factor. The father’s new role is that of a common family man living in modern society as a “provider, breadwinner, husband and father” (Gross: 16). To Joe, the family is everything – especially his sons. About his other son, Larry, he tells his wife, Kate: “I’m his father and he’s my son, and if there’s something bigger than that, I’ll put a bullet in my head.” Joe’s dream is for his sons in inherit his factory which has established for four decades. This is where we sympathize with Joe as a tragic person. As Samuel Yorks explains, “After all, in our society, a business to pass on to one’s sons is a badge of honor for a life well-spent.” (Yorks: 403) Joe’s problem is not that he could not distinguish between right and wrong, but that he could not turn his eyes to the general society at large – He stuck to the small world of his family and failed to focus on the world beyond the family. Joe did not commit a crime just for his own interest ad persona profit. It is not true that Joe is an irresponsible person. Arvin R. Wells (1964) has this to say: “ He (Joe Keller) has the peasant’s insular loyalty to family which excludes more generalized responsibility to society at large or to mankind in general. At the moment of decision, when his business seemed threatened, the question for him was not basically out of profit and loss; what concerned him was a conflict of responsibilities; his responsibility to his family, particularly his sons to whom the business was to be a legacy of security and joy, versus his responsibility to the unknown man, engaged in the social action of war, who might as a remote consequence suffer for his dishonesty.” (47-48). Chris, in contrast to Joe is an idealist. He is naïve and immature. He had had a comfortable family life, staying with his parents until he left to serve in the war. This experience tremendously affected him. At first, to Chris, Joe is a powerful father figure. Before anything else, he loves his family above anyone else. He is a model father for his sons and a model husband to Kate. By dint of his own efforts at a tender age, he has become the owner of a large factory. Without revealing his failure in character, he maintains his authority as a father. Chris on the other hand admits that he has been a good son but for too long a time. This growing son, Chris, develops from a process of respect and admiration for his father, Joe, to that of separation from him and the social influence. It is said that we overcome our father by loving and understanding him as a person with a unique character and as a father with some weakness or other. It could be worse. We could maintain a relationship with him with hatred, at the same time, trying hard not to become like him. Chris could not overcome his father whom he respected and even idolized at the start, but he could not criticize him (at least before he went to war). Then when Joe’s crime was revealed and Chris accused his father severely, the latter reacted with acute embarrassment. Chris regarded Joe only as an ideal father and missed the opportunity to actually see his father as a person with frailties of his own. Since Joe was a fond father to Chris, the latter could not build up his own character and become independent of his father. From the play, we glean also that Kate’s excessive love for her sons spoiled Chris. Her existence as a fond mother contributes much to the fact that Chris could not become independent of his parents. The war experience has made Chris aware of his ego or self, but it is inapplicable to the realities of everyday life since the experience war gained in an unordinary situation. “I was dying every day and you were killing my boys and you did it for me? What the hell do you think I was thinking of, the goddamn business? Is that as far as your mind can see, the business? What is that, the world – the business? What the hell do you mean, you did it for me? Don’t you have a country? Don’t you live in this world? What the hell are you?” (Miller: 116) Chris is compared with Biff in Death of a Salesman thus: “When Biff Loman stumbles and weeps when he discovers at the age of seventeen that his father is not the god he thought him, we understand that an adolescent has made a painful but inevitable discovery. When Chris Keller, who has been a ‘killer’ in the war, does the same thing at thirty-two, we must conclude that e is responding to some private drama unwinding inside him rather than to the relation of his revelation of his father’s guilt.” (Gross: 16) It is probable that Miller chose the title of his play from Joe’s words at the end of Act III. “Sure he (Larry) was my son. But I think to him they were all my sons. And I guess they were, I guess they were.” These words were expressed after Joe learns of Larry’s suicide and what motivated Larry to do it. Joe was too concerned about his family to pay attention to the outside world. Larry sent a most revealing letter to Ann just before his flight to his death. Joe completely believed that Larry is the only one who has understood the plight of Joe; however he is shocked to discover that his son committed suicide due to his father’s wrongdoing and this led to Joe’s subsequent suicide. “In the intervening years, Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman has become our quintessential American tragic hero, our domestic Lear, spiraling toward suicide as toward an act of selfless grace, his mad scene on the heath, a frantic seed-planting episode by flashlight in the midst of which the once-proud, now disintegrating man confesses, ‘I’ve got nobody to talk to.’ His salesmanship, his family relations, his ver life – all have been talk, optimistic and inflated sales rhetoric; yet, suddenly, in this powerful scene, Willy Loman realizes he has nobody to talk to, nobody to listen.” (Oates, 1998). Some background information reveals that Willy Loman, a traveling salesman is sixty-one years old, having worked for the Wagner Company for thirty-four years. He has been put on straight commission and since he has been taken off salary, he is unable to earn enough money. The Loman’s neighbor, Charley, has been providing loans to Willy to pay his bills even if Willy is too proud to accept a payroll job from him. Bernard, Charley’s son, was a schoolmate of Willy’s sons and has become a successful lawyer. We can see here that Willy is a failure in comparison with Joe Keller who has won success in life as a company owner. Keller’s sons are also more successful than Willy’s sons, Biff and Happy. The family situation in both plays are more or less the same. At the start, both Keller and Willy enjoy the love and respect of the wife and sons. Both Willy’s sons return home and temporarily share their old room together. Biff, the older son earned several scholarships and was a football star but for more than a decade has been unable to find himself. He is home simply for the reason that his mother requested for him to see his father. Happy lives in New York and works in a department store. Apparently, the sons of both Keller and Willy are of more than average intelligence. The start of the play finds Willy plagued by daydreams and illusions. Although Willy has long been just a salesman, he would like to think of himself as important in the New England area. Keller is the opposite; he is a vital member of his family and community if only because of his wealth and position. When Willy was starting out as a salesman, he came to know Dave Singleman, a highly successful salesman who could place many orders by phone without having to leave his hotel room. When the man died, countless people from all over attended his funeral. This man became Willy’s inspiration. Willy comes home from a business trip and tells Linda, his wife, that he can no longer concentrate on his driving. He asks about his son biff and reminisces about the glorious days when Biff was a football hero. Later that year, Biff failed math and gone up to Boston to ask his father to appeal to his teacher. Reaching Willy’s hotel room in Boston, he is shocked to find his father having an affair with a strange woman. After that episode, Biff despised his father and lost all desire to become successful himself to please his father. The above episode reminds us of the more serious conflict between father and son in the other play, All My Sons, wherein Joe’s crime is revealed to Chris and the latter berates his father for it. After fourteen years of being away, Biff is reunited with his brother Happy and both think of a job that would enable Biff to settle down in New York. They remember Biff’s former boss, Bill Oliver and plan to borrow ten thousand dollars from him for Willy’s sons to start a new business. Willy instills the erroneous idea in them that the important thing in life is to be well-liked and to exude personal charm. He reminds Biff of how good-looking he is. Furthermore, he tells Biff that Mr. Oliver always thought highly of him, although the truth is that in the past, Bill was suspected of having stolen from a shipment of basketballs. On the other hand, Joe Keller reasons out with Chris that it is hard work that spells success for the individual. Joe is a “self-made man”, the “rags to riches” sort who has worked pretty hard to win success in life. The next day, Willy has a dinner date with his sons. He decides to apply for a job in New York City only to be informed by Howard Wagner the present owner of Wagner Company that he cannot represent the firm in New England since he has become detrimental to the business. He is forced to borrow money form Charley to pay his insurance premium. He has long been borrowing fifty dollars a week and although Charley has offered him a good job, Willy refuses it for some reason or other. Willy then takes the money and meets his sons at the restaurant. There, he tells Happy that he has stolen himself out of every job, lately stealing a pen from Bill Oliver’s desk. When Willy arrives, he pays no attention to Bill’s story and pretends he has an appointment next day. The lunch meeting ends with Willy becoming furious and Bill and Happy leaving him alone. That night, Biff comes home to find his father planting and talking to an illusion of Biff’s dead brother Ben. He explains to his father that it would be best if they parted ways, since he is not what his father thinks of him – a leader of men. He is just a common person with no outstanding qualities. Willy refuses to believe him and realize the truth to a point where Biff breaks down, sobbing, and telling his father to forget him. Willy is so affected by his sons emotion that he resolves to commit suicide and make Biff magnificent with the insurance money. In the end, Willy crashed his car, killing himself and dying a forgotten man for no one except his family came to the funeral. Willy’s philosophy that success is based on appearance and popularity without hard work is in direct contrast to Keller’s belief that the secret of success lies in hard work and overcoming life’s hardships. Willy, also, was too proud to accept a job working for Charley, but would accept his money on the premise that it was a loan (although it was impossible for Willy to repay it). We deduce from All My Sons that this was not the case with Joe Keller who was honest even to admit that he was an ignorant person. Often hard work and honesty spell success for the individual. Biff knew that he loved working with his hands and his father did, too. But the latter did not pursue such activity because it did not fit into the pattern for a businessman. He refuses to acknowledge that he really is a good carpenter. He continues to live a life of lies, memories and dreams. By contrast, Joe Keller is practical and down to earth. Willy is a complete failure in the capitalistic world. He owns nothing, makes nothing and, has no sense of accomplishment unlike Joe who does not boast; his actions speak louder than words and he has a large factory to show for it. Biff could not accept the fact that his father had committed adultery and from then on, saw his father as a fake. On the other hand, Chris’ object of protest against his father is Joe’s unethical actions urged by his father’s family-centered way of thinking. “More than any other playwright working today, Arthur Miller has dedicated himself to the investigation of the moral plight of the white American working class. With a sense of realism and a strong ear for the American vernacular, Miller has created characters whose voices are an important part of the American landscape. His insight into the psychology of desperation and his ability to create stories that express the deepest meanings of struggle, have made him one of the most highly-regarded and widely-performed American playwrights. In his eighty-fifth year, Miller remains an active and important part of American theater.” (American Masters website). References American Masters website, “Arthur Miller”, retrieved on January 5, 2008 from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/miller_a.html “Death of a Salesman”, retrieved on January 5, 2008 from http://www.bellmore-merrick.k12.ny.us/death.html Gorer, G., The Americans: A Study in National Characters, edited with notes by Hideo Nakanishi (Tokyo: Kaibunsha, 1958) Gross, B., “All My Sons and the Larger Context,” Modern Drama, Vol. XVIII, No. 1 (March 1975). Miller, A., All My Sons in Arthur Miller’s Collected Plays. New York: The Viking Press, 1967 Miller, A., Death of a Salesman, Barrons Educational Series Inc. 1988 Mitchelich, A., Society without the Father: A Contribution to Social Psychology, translated by Eric Mosbacher. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1969. Oates, J.C., “Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman: A Celebration”, Michigan Quarterly Review, Fall 1998 Oikawa, M. “All My Sons as Precursor in Arthur Miller’s Dramatic World”, Ritsumeikan Annual Review of International Studies, 2002. Wells, A.R., “The Living and the Dead in All My Sons,” Modern Drama, Vol. VII, No. 1 (May 1964) Yorks, S.A., “Joe Keller and His Sons,” Western Humanities Review, Vol. XIII, No. 4 (Autumn 1959). Read More